Ghost!
by StopTheMadness
Summary: Bella has a gift of her own. One that she has been hiding for her whole life, afraid if anyone knew they would class her as crazy. What is her gift? and what does it have to do with the murder of an 8 year old girl.
1. Chapter 1

"Go away!" I hissed and the woman standing in front of me.

"You have to help me!" She insisted. "There is a box; you must get it to my husband!" She exclaimed, following me into my room.

"Go _away!!_" I hissed again, hoping to drive the point home.

"You want me to leave, love?" Edward asked from my bed, hurt. I jumped and placed my hand over my fast beating heart as if it would slow it down, "No, not you, there was a . . . a fly" I finished lamely.

He chuckled, "come join me," and I smiled, almost forgetting about the middle aged woman who had been hassling me for the past three days. I lay down next to Edward and he put his arms around me, holding me against him. I smiled and soon fell asleep. I woke up at six am, to an empty bed and a note. It read,

_Bella, I have gone hunting with Jasper, I will be back in time to pick you up for school._  
_I will see you soon, I love you._

_Edward._

I smiled and read over the letter again. "Please, you must help me!" the women pleaded, suddenly appearing in my room.

"Don't you ever sleep?!" I whined, frustrated.

"No, I don't. And since I don't need to eat or rest, I can keep asking you for the rest of your life," she said cheekily.

"I told you! I cannot help you!" I said, throwing my hands up in the air.

"I just need you to get the box to my husband!" she demanded, also frustrated.

"The box is in LA, okay, and if you haven't noticed, we are in Washington! And I am still in high school! I can't just go galloping across the country" I said the last part softly; this was a half truth since Alice would have been more than willing to escort me anywhere- no matter the distance.

"Please" she whispered, her eyes pleading.

"I wish I could help you, but I can't so . . . . I'm sorry" I said.

She nodded despondently. "Sorry for causing you any trouble." And with that she disappeared.

I flopped back down and stared at the ceiling for an entire five minutes until I stood up and walked to my closet, dressing in a pair of jeans and a light blue t-shirt.

I had just finished my cereal when I heard a car pull up and Edward came in. I dumped my bowl in the sink and went to the door to greet him. He picked my bag up for me and we walked to the car in silence. "Are you okay, love?" he asked, noticing.

I just nodded automatically and rested my forehead against the window. I really felt bad I couldn't help that woman. "You don't look okay" he pressed.

"I'm fine!" I snapped, and instantly regretted it; I was never short with Edward. He looked at me hurt and nodded. "I'm sorry, it's just . . ." I couldn't figure out a good excuse for snapping at Edward so I just let the sentence hang. I could normally help the ones who came to me, but this one, I just couldn't do anything. I let out a shaky breath.

"Please, Bella you are not alright. Please tell me," he urged as he parked the Volvo. I know it was stupid hiding my 'gift' from Edward; hell, he could read minds, and his sister could see the future. But I just couldn't tell him. I don't know why but I just couldn't. Every time I came close, I chickened out at the last moment, afraid he would have me committed.

_***_

I sat at my desk flipping through my history book, wondering how much of it was false. And if I should just go to Carlisle who had lived through most, if not all, the things I learned about in this dull subject. My desk lamp flickered and I glared at it as if it would fix it. Suddenly, my book was gone and I huffed, irked.

"Damn" I muttered, "Hello?" I called out. "Don't be afraid, I can help you." I said softly to the preternatural being haunting my room.

"Nobody can help me" a wind chime voice of a child called out of my room.

"I can," I said truthfully.

A girl appeared in front of me then, her blonde hair mattered in blood, and she had a cut from her hair line to her collar bone which was stitched up. Her eyes had no colour; they were completely white, the absence of pupils shocking me. Her clothes were covered in blood and the left arm was twisted in a sickening way. I resisted the urge to scream and cover my eyes.

"_He_ did this to me!" she screeched, and the lights started to flicker.

"Who?" I asked as calmly as possible.

"_He_ did!" she exclaimed, getting angrier as all the books fell from my book case and my desk lamp light burst. And then she was gone.

I sighed and started to pick up my books, placing them back on the bookcase, hoping that there wouldn't be a repeat performance- my books were battered enough as it was. I walked to the hallway closet and grabbed the pan and brush and started to sweep up the glass on my desk.

She couldn't have been any older than eight when she died. And she was angry; hell if I had been murdered at that age I would be an angry ghost too. I looked at the clock; it was 9pm, and as if on cue, Edward's arms came around my waist unexpectedly. I jumped in surprise at the sudden contact.

"Hello, love" he said and kissed my head sweetly.

"Did your lamp break?" he asked, gesturing to the pile of glass on my desk. I sighed.

"Yeah, it did." I said lamely.

"I'll clean that up for you." He said and moved me towards the bed. He was gone in a flash and so was the glass. I lay back on the bed thinking about the girl. Who killed her? Was she from around here or somewhere far away, like the last one? I really hoped that I could help her; she was just a child and didn't even get the chance to experience middle school. I got under the covers and Edward came over and pulled me into his arms lulling me to unconsciousness.

_Dream_

_I looked around; I was in a room, a child's bedroom, a little girl's room by the look of the pink walls and the neatly organized box of Barbie dolls. I looked in the mirror and rather than my own draping mahogany hair, I had long flowing blonde hair. I looked to be around 8 years old. I looked around the room once more and ran to the single window. I looked out and there was a busy street below, and a little cafe called 'Late Art'. _

"_Oh, Nicky!" I heard a male voice called out. "Where are you!?" Some part of me was very afraid, afraid of this man. _

"_Mummy's at work so it's just you and me this afternoon." He said coming into the room. His voice sounded innocent but there was a twist of angry behind his tone._

"_There you are." He sneered. _

"_NO! Go away!" I said trying to swat him away _pathetically _as he grabbed me. _

"_You will do as I say Nicky!" The man _roared _slapping me across the face. I sobbed and tears trailed down my face, as I struggled and cried as he dragged me away, my face soon becoming stained with tears._

Edward woke me up by shaking me gently. "Bella, are you okay?" he demanded, the flawless face etched with worry wrinkles.

I sat up and rubbed my hands against the smooth and damp skin on my face; I looked up and saw the girl standing at the end of my bed. I looked down again and rubbed my eyes.

"Are you okay?" he repeated and I nodded weakly.

"Just, a . . . bad dream." I said. Looking back up, she was gone.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, brushing some hair away from my clammy face.

I shook my head no. "No, no, this is something I need to figure out on my own." I said, laying back down. This was the first time something like this had happened; I'd had small things happen like an elderly women who wanted me to tell her granddaughter she loved her. Then there was this dog, who I didn't figure out was a ghost until he ran through a tree. Needless to say, he still hung around, and I even named him Buddy.

I laid back down with Edward who I could tell that I was still anxious. Tomorrow was Saturday, and I was going to tell Edward the truth. I also decided then and there that if Alice saw this and told Edward before I did, then I would burn her shoes. And with the decision made, I fell asleep.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! And thank you to my Awesome Beta, ****edwardsfavoritebrunette****, check out her stories! **


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up still in Edwards arms. "Where's Charlie?" I asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"He went to work" Edward said I nodded suddenly nervous, "Is there something wrong?" Edward asked, noticing my change of behaviour, I took a deep breath and sat on my knees looking at him "I have to tell you something" I said, I took another deep breath to calm my fears, where's Jasper when you need him?

"Yes love?" he asked.

"Well, I sort of . . . well" I stuttered, "I . . . uh . . . well I . . ."

"You what Bella?" he asked worried now,

"See dead people" I blurted "Ghosts, you probably think I'm crazy" I started to babble, "No, Bella, I'm just well surprised and very interested" he said truthfully.

"I'll show you something, follow me," I said standing up and shrugging on my robe and my slippers walked down stairs Edward followed. I went out into the back yard into the crispy air; I picked up the tennis ball that was sitting on the small porch. And threw it, "Go get it Buddy" I cooed to the dog who just came out of the forest, of course Edward couldn't see anything, Buddy trotted over to the Ball picked it up with his mouth and brought it back, I looked at Edward who was staring at the ball, all he could see was a floating ball,

"It's a dog, he seemed to take a liking to me." I said and took the ball and threw it again. He barked and ran off as I laughed. Edward came over and wrapped his arms around me. "Wow" he breathed. I nodded "Is that what your dream was about?" Edward asked and I took the ball again and threw it, "Yeah, There's a girl, around 8 I think she was murdered" I said frowning.

He gasped and looked down at me shocked, "are you okay? What does she look like?"

"I'm fine. Well when I saw her she had blonde hair covered in blood a wound going from her hair line to her collar bone that was stitched up and her left arm was twisted in an unnatural way and her eyes . . . they were pure white, no pupils or iris . . . just white. I asked her what happened and all she said was he did it to her, I asked again and she said the same thing but got really furious; that's how my lamp blew up- from her supernatural rage," I said and I picked the ball back up and smiled at the dog who barked. "Run along now" I cooed as it ran away; I smiled.

"Wow," he said again and I just nodded. "The dream last night, I was her. I got a good look of the man, and a cafe out the window of her room, called Late Art. I also learned that her name's is Nicky" I stated.

"But it was just a dream" he murmured comfortingly as we walked into the sparse kitchen.

"The dreams are a part of my gift to help them move on from being tied to earth, I experience what they did, or what caused their death, sometimes in a dream and sometimes even in my conscious mind" I said matter-of-factly, shuddering at the time when I thought I had a knife sticking out of my back. It was frightening; I could see it, the knife and the blood. I could smell the blood, and the worst part was that I could _feel_ it.

(I feel like maybe he's too accepting of this- he could offer her an ice pack or something, saying that she's probably still in shock from the nightmare or something.)

"Why don't people just die and move on?" he inquired, watching me take out some bread and the toaster.

"People who have business that need to be attended to stay here until they find a way to get it done, In this case Nicky will stay here, vexed and looking how she did when she died, until that man is in jail, Or some equal kind of retribution for her death."

"What do you mean looking the way did when she died?"

"Ghosts always look the way they did when they passed on; as they get less angry and things start getting better, they start to look better and their wounds heal eventually." I continued while buttering my toast. I sat down in one of the eclectic chairs at the breakfast table and started devouring the toast; Nicky's nightmare had left me with an empty stomach.

"I think we should tell the rest of the family" He announced. I nodded in agreement.

"And I think Buddy should come along, just so you can demonstrate," at this remark, buddy pranced through the closed door and into the room and barked happily.

"He seems happy about this," I said, grinning at the beautiful Collie.

"What breed is it?" Edward asked,

"A Collie."

"Ah, interesting. Why can't I hear it?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Normal people can't hear ghosts, and you're no exception." I said laughing as I tapped his nose with my finger and put the empty plate in the sink.

We walked out to the Volvo, and I opened the back door as Buddy happily jumped in.

"Can't ghosts just pass through things?" Edward asked quizzically once I was in the car.

"Yes, but the longer one if here for, and the happier they are, they act almost alive . . . almost" I giggled.

"Oh, I see" he said, as we zoomed down the road. We soon came to the house and I opened the door to let Buddy out, I had put the tennis ball in my jacket pocket before we left. We walked up to the door and I opened it; Buddy waltzed in as if he owned the place. I laughed lightly and called out "Family meeting," knowing the entire household could hear me. As Edward and I went to the dining room, everyone else soon filed in.

"You called a family meeting, Bella?" Carlisle asked, grinning.

"Yes, I don't believe I've been completely truthful with you all" I started, and shock and confusion crossed over all their beautiful faces.

"What do you mean Bella?" Esme asked, always the voice of reason.

"I will explain; I only wish that you wouldn't interrupt me." I said and they nodded, agreeing.

"You see I have a 'gift'" I said, using air quotes, "I can see the dead and departed." Their faces were now disbelieving; I sighed. "Follow me," I said, calling out, "Buddy!" He trotted around the corner I smiled at him in acknowledgment and went out to the back yard.

The entire Cullen family looked at me in confusion as I produced the tennis ball and threw it out into the empty air. Buddy barked and ran off, picked it up in his mouth and brought it back, "Awesome! A ghost dog!" Emmett exclaimed and I laughed in relief that at least one accepted my power, "Yeah," I half said, half sighed.

"Why are you telling us now?" Carlisle asked, convinced.

"To save you all from worrying about me" I said and went back inside to sit back down by the table.

"Why would we worry?" Esme asked softly as they all came back in with me.

"There's a ghost, and when I help them to move on, well, sometimes things get messy" I stated recalling the burst pipe two years ago.

"Call the Ghost busters!" Emmett yelled and Buddy barked, "Shush!" I said to Buddy, "You won't get Emmett to be quiet, love" Edward chuckled.

"No not him, the dog" I laughing.

"Oh," he said and chuckled again.

"What do you mean, messy?" Esme interrogated.

"Uh . . . shattered glass, burst pipes, things flying around, and angry ghosts are unpredictable," I said.

"And there is an angry ghost now?" Esme asked incredulously.

"Yes, a little girl no older than eight. I think she was murdered, not to mention that she already broke my desk lamp." I replied, frowning.

"Oh the poor thing" Esme murmured, and I nodded in agreement.

"You will stay here" Alice cheered, "It's a long weekend, then the teachers go on strike on Tuesday" she said and danced out of the room.

Buddy was about to follow, but I commanded him, "Stay" as he sat down staring at me and I smirked. "Get em!" I laughed, pointing to Emmett. Buddy barked and jumped on Emmett who was now freaking out at the unseen object attacking him. I cracked up, laughing. "Down," I ordered and he obediently jumped off of Emmett.

"I called Charlie at work, and you will be staying here tonight until Wednesday, and I will then drop you off at school" Alice cheered. I smiled at her never ending exuberance.

"Could I please borrow one of your computers?" I asked to the remaining Cullen's in the room, I'm guessing Rosalie had lost interest, and I'm not sure where, Carlisle and Esme were, part of me didn't want to know.

"I'll get my laptop," Edward said winking and disappearing up the stairs and soon came back with a clearly expensive laptop in his outstretched hand.

I opened the laptop and turned it on, clicked on Google and typed in 'Late Art, Seattle.' It was a large city, and I quickly came up with thousands of results. I clicked the first link and wrote down the address with the paper and pen Edward had given me. I sighed as I turned off the laptop; I couldn't really do any more than that at the moment. Edward set the computer on the coffee table and Buddy jumped on me. "Umph" I huffed at the weight of the dog on me, "Are you okay?" Edward asked worried that he'd done something unintentionally

"It's just Buddy" I said, laughing "Get off!" I ordered and he jumped off, barked and ran off; I sighed again.

I looked at the clock that read one pm- I was surprised at how fast the time had gone. I walked into the kitchen just as Esme placed a plate on the breakfast bar, and smiled and started to eat the chicken sandwich she'd prepared for me.

_***_

Edward, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice and I were watching TV, It was suddenly turned off everyone was searching for the remote, but I knew they wouldn't find it, ghosts especially angry ones love to hide other peoples things, like keys, TV remotes and, oh, I don't know, maybe my world history book. The lights started flickering and I suppressed a sigh. Nicky appeared in front of me, her face was one of sadness and anger; "I know what he did to you, Nicky" I said standing up. Everyone became silent when I spoke, the light went off then on again and then Nicky was standing next to the wall, no longer in front of the TV.

"I know what he did, it wasn't right, no one should have to go through that." I said taking a step forward her and the light went out again and I spun around looking for her; she was on the other side of the room.

"He's evil! Now he is hurting mommy!" she wailed, the glass coffee table cracking and the lights continued to flicker, "We will find him, and make sure he can't hurt your mommy anymore" I said, attempting to placate her.

"_He_ did this to me!" she screamed and the over head light burst, the only light now being the one coming from the hallway. "You're safe now, he can't hurt you." The coffee table shattered completely.

"Twenty-second and third, fourth ally left" she muttered this three more times and then she was gone. I took a deep breath and was engulfed in Edward's embrace. "Twenty-second and third, fourth ally on the left" I repeated, and Alice scribbled it down, hesitantly. "It's most likely where her body is," I said, and sighed sadly.

"What did she say," Edward murmured, his lips against my forehead,

"She said he was an evil man and how he's hurting her mom." I said sadly. Edward hugged me and so did Alice; I looked around and all the glass was gone. Jasper was about to lift Alice up but she scoffed and just jumped up herself and hung upside down on the chandelier as she put new globes in, the ones that Jasper were throwing up to her. I shook my head at their antics and walked up the stairs. Edward followed and I soon went to bed.

I woke up and turned to the clock; it read 1:00 am and my lips were very dry. I tried to lick them but I couldn't open my mouth. Immediately, my hands flew to my mouth and I felt a rough thread over it; my eyebrows puckered in confusion and acute fear as I got up and walked to the bathroom. I stared into the mirror and saw my reflection: my mouth was sewn shut with thick black thread; at this, my eyes went wide and I screamed, but all that came out were muffled, high pitched noises. Panicked that I couldn't open my mouth, I screamed for at least twenty seconds until I was pulled into Edward's freezing arms, gasping for air.

My hands went to my mouth again, "What happened?" Edward demanded, "We tried to get you to respond, but it was like you couldn't even see us," he sounded said.

"I couldn't." I said looking back in the mirror.

"When you started screaming we got really worried" Alice said and I nodded apologetically.

"What was it?" Edward asked again.

"My mouth, it was. . . . Sewn shut" I said and they all gasped. "It's to help Nicky, things happen in my waking life, like I am really living it. Needless to say, it sucks" I said as I rubbed my eyes, "I'm going to go back to sleep" I mumbled and climbed back into bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

I woke up and it was seven am; I yawned and got up out of bed to get dressed. I looked in the mirror only to I see Nicky standing behind me. I spun around and she asked, "Are you going to find me?" There was only a slight twist of anger in her voice.

"Yes, Nicky. We are going to find you. I promise everything will be okay soon." I didn't know what I had said but she suddenly became furious.

"It won't be! That's what they all told me! It will be okay!" She sneered, "Well it's NOT!" She started screaming and the mirror behind me shattered, the glass shards littering the ground and casting dim sparkles on the walls.

Then she was gone.

I sighed and ran my hands through my messy bangs exasperatedly, and Edward appeared by my side, his tussled bronze hair windswept.

"Bella, are you okay?" he asked, glancing at the glass littering the floor.

"I'm fine, I guess. It's very rare that a ghost would actually _hurt_ someone. Scare them immensely yes, but hurt or kill, not so often," I said weakly as we stepped out of the walk in closet. "She was so calm at first, but when I told her it will be okay, she got so enraged, the mirror... broke" I said, glancing back toward the closet, worried that I'd caused enough much damage for a decade.

After I put some necessities into a purse, we were soon in Edward's Volvo, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie were taking Emmett's jeep. We were driving down the highway and I looked in the rear vision mirror only to see Nicky sitting there; she raised her twisted arm- her hand was around the wrong way and her elbow was twisted the opposite way it should have been- and she lifted it and waved.

My eyes zeroed in on her lips and sure enough there were small scars there; I forced a smile and waved back. I had to be careful with her, she may have been pleasant then, but I had learned the hard way in the past that patience was not a virtue ghosts prided themselves in.

"What are you waving at," Edward snickered, finding some humour in my gift.

"Nicky decided to join us." I stated, praying he would be polite. Then again, he _was _born in the 1900s.

"Hello" Nicky said, gazing at Edward.

"She said hello" I passed on to him.

"Hello Nicky," Edward replied cordially, looking in the rear view mirror as if he could see her too.

"Why won't the people in the Jeep answer me?" she asked now anger and rejection evident in her voice.

"They can't see you honey, only I can" I answered her softly.

She frowned, and was gone, "She's gone; she seems to be more civil that before, hopefully that will last" I said thoughtfully. Edward nodded and continued to drive.

We soon came to the street and parked before we started walking. Alice came up to us and as we turned into the ally, she remarked, "There's a McDonald's at the end of the ally and across the street; if the body is here, we can explain to the Police we were only going to grab something to eat when we show them the body. No need to draw attention to ourselves," she winked.

I noticed that only Emmett was with her, and then realized there would probably be blood so I understood why Jasper was not here, but I had thought Rosalie had better control. I let this thought slide as we continued to walk, and soon we came across her body; it was over half decayed, and I was surprised no one had come across her by then. Out of the blue, Nicky appeared next to her body, looking down at it. She then looked up at me and her eyes had colour- she has the most startlingly hazel eyes.

I heard Alice on the phone, to the police no doubt, and I stood there gazing sadly at Nicky. She looked back at us, "Will you get him?" she asked quietly, and I nodded "Yes." As soon as I said this she was disappeared, seemingly satisfied with my honest answer.

I sighed and buried my face into Edwards shirt, and in return he wrapped his arms around my shoulders, kissed my hair, and before I knew it, we were walking out the dismal ally and back on the street.

We were interviewed by the Police for awhile, and then went home; I wasn't very shaken by today's events, but I really hoped that we could get her to move on, and fast.


End file.
